By Ji-Soo Woo

Ji-Soo Woo
Blog Competition Winner

I came upon a wise man sitting under a fig tree. Eyes closed…he was in evident deep reverie. Balanced on his exposed leathery scalp was a table tennis racquet, and the tips of his slender fingers tapered around a three star table tennis ball. He looked like someone with many answers, just waiting for the right questions.

Mustering what courage I had, I prodded him with my walking stick until he tipped over. While he gathered himself I asked my prepared question.

“Why do some people play table tennis and not really improve much?”

He peered up at me with cunning eyes. “Many are the obstacles to attaining excellence in table tennis, some within, some without.”

“Without what? Speak plainly old man!” I retorted, aiming my walking stick menacingly. In haste, he passed on his gems of wisdom which I will now share with you all.

“Progress in table tennis can be impeded by the ‘Three Lacks’.”

“First, lack of interest. As with anything else you have to be committed to improving.”

“Second, lack of information. You want to improve, but you don’t have the expertise to know how to improve.”

“There’s a site called pingskills that comes in handy” I interrupted.

“Third, lack of experience. You need the right experience against a range of opponents, played in competitive conditions such as tournaments or pennants.”

“Well, I have none of those lacks, but still my progress is fitful at best.”

“Without those lacks you have a good foundation, but to truly flourish you have to face the ‘Two Unpalatable Truths’.”

“First, the Unpalatable Truth about Yourself. Too often I see players try to hit low percentage shots with wretched technique and non-existent footwork. And when they miss, they curse their bad luck and learn nothing. Luck does not enter into it. If you miss many shots, you are doing something wrong. It is your job to find out what it is.”

“To this end, get the advice of as many experienced players as possible. Also, if you can invest in a video camera it will be money well spent. There is nothing like video evidence to force oneself to confront the unpalatable truths about one’s own game.”

“Second, the Unpalatable Truth about Your Opponent. You will see that the two Unpalatable Truths are complementary to one another like yin and yang.”

“I heard about them,” I replied, “they were big in the 80s.”

The wise man ignored me and continued

“Just as one is naturally inclined to give oneself the benefit of the doubt, one is equally likely to withhold from one’s opponents the same benefit of the doubt. In other words, you are probably a worse player than you give yourself credit for, and your opponent is a better player than you give him or her credit for.”

“Too many players are stuck in perpetual mediocrity because they think they are getting beat by players worse than themselves. By definition, if they beat you, they are better players.”

“The corollary of this is, if you have personal rivals and you don’t wish them to improve, you should encourage them to maintain their delusions. For example, if you fool them with spin deception and they end up hitting the ball off the table, do not take offense if they act like it was only a weird fluke. If anything, smile apologetically so as to reaffirm their flight from their Unpalatable Truth. So long as they don’t face it, they will not learn and they will not improve.”

“Sounds like Sun Tzu’s ‘The Art of War’” I observed. “Know yourself and your enemy and you can win a hundred battles.”

“You impudent pup!” the wise man frothed “are you accusing me of plagiarism?! Where do you think Sun Tzu got it from?”

But I had already turned and was strolling down the hill, deep in thought.